According to Ronald D. Moore this character was originally supposed to be the same person as Elizabeth Shelby, with her and the crew of the Sutherland joining Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's recurring cast. However, as he explained in an AOL chat in 1997, this plan fell through because "John Ordover and Co. had very specifically and very politely asked us if we had any intention of ever using this character again and we (including me) had said, "No way – do what you want with her." This very salient fact was pointed out to me after ["You Are Cordially Invited"] had aired and I had a rather sheepish conversation with Paula Block over in licensing and with John via e-mail explaining what had happened. Since I only used Shelby's last name in the episode, you're free to look at this either way – it's really her or it's someone else with the same last name (it's a big fleet, after all)."